The criminal trial of Donald Trump entered a new phase Tuesday with testimony from Stormy Daniels, an adult film star at the center of his hush money scandal, who told jurors that they had a sexual relationship in 2006 that left her nervous and embarrassed.
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"My hands were shaking so much that I had trouble getting dressed," said Daniels, who told jurors that she went to Trump's hotel room in Lake Tahoe thinking they would have dinner there after their meeting.
The two had met earlier that day at a celebrity golf match on the other side of town; Daniels was there for Wicked Pictures, the company she worked for at the time and was a sponsor.
'The players came by, you stayed in your hole with the logo of your company, [you'd] give them water or towels," she said.
They didn't discuss much, but Daniels' boss told Trump she was also a director. Trump, she recalled, told her she had to be pretty smart if she was directing movies and not just acting in them. They met again in a room where event sponsors set up tables with free merchandise.
"He remembered us from the golf course - he specifically remembered me as 'the smart one'." At one point, one of Trump's bodyguards came by and told Daniels that he wanted her to join him for dinner. She said no.
Daniels said she didn't reconsider the invitation until later, when there was a planned company dinner she didn't want to attend. Daniels' colleague told her she should accept his invitation.
"It will make for a great story, he's a businessman, what could possibly go wrong, those were his words to me," Daniels recalled. He thought it might be good for her career too.
She and Trump's bodyguard coordinated and she was directed to his hotel across town and told to take a specific elevator to the penthouse. "He was wearing silk or satin pajamas which I immediately made fun of and asked, does Mr. Hefner know you stole his pajamas?" Daniels said, referring to the late pornographer and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.
"I told him to change and he did."
Since it was still early, they decided to chat for a while before eating. Trump has repeatedly blasted Daniels about her time in the adult industry, including: "What about testing? Are you concerned about STDs"
He asked if she had been tested. "Yes, of course, and I volunteered it too," she said.
"He asked me, well, have you ever had a bad test, I said no, I can show you my whole file," Daniels recalled.
She said there was also a very brief discussion about Trump's wife Melania, in which he said they slept in separate rooms. Daniels said at one point she had to go to the bathroom because she had had several bottles of water. Trump had entered the bedroom part of the suite and was lying on the bed in his boxer shorts and a T-shirt.
"At first I was just shocked, like I jumped," Daniels said. "I just thought, oh my God, what did I read wrong to get here? The intent is pretty clear when someone is down to their underwear and on the bed."
She tried to joke and leave, but he stood between her and the door. "Did you at any point end up on the bed having sex with him?" asked prosecutor Susan Hoffinger. "Yes."
During their conversation at the hotel, they discussed The Apprentice. Daniels told him that there was no way she would be allowed on network TV because of her status in the porn industry. He dismissed this idea and then appeared to compare Daniels to his daughter, Ivanka Trump: "You remind me of my daughter. She's smart and blonde and beautiful and people underestimate her too."
Daniels, who wore a flowing black top and black-rimmed glasses, gave her testimony in a rapid fire of words, so much so that she was asked to slow down several times, indicating nervousness. At one point, Daniels drank water from a plastic cup.
When Daniels first took the stand, Trump leaned back in his chair with a passive look on his face.
Prosecutors allege that Trump, his then-lawyer Michael Cohen and tabloid David Pecker plotted in 2015 to bury stories that could thwart his Republican presidential bid. Cohen allegedly made a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels less than two weeks before the 2016 presidential election to prevent her from going public about her alleged sexual relationship with Trump.
Cohen wired money to Daniels' attorney through a limited liability company he created specifically for the transaction called Essential Consulting LLC. He reportedly did this through an LLC so that it could not be traced back to him and therefore to Trump.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records in connection with Cohen's payback. Prosecutors allege Trump falsely listed these reimbursements as legal services in business documents.
Daniels' testimony came a day after Judge Juan Merchan warned that Trump could face jail time if he continues to violate a gag order.
Monday's proceedings - which featured testimony from Deborah Tarasoff, a Trump Organization credit supervisor, and Jeffrey McConney, the company's former comptroller - were overshadowed by the fact that Merchan found Trump in criminal contempt for the tenth time before they even received their took a position.
Merchan's decision comes just days after he found Trump in criminal contempt and fined $9,000 for other comments that ignored the order banning him from discussing witnesses or jurors.
"So while I do not want to impose a prison sentence, I want you to understand that I will, if necessary and appropriate."
McConney and Tarasoff's testimony sought to put Trump at the center of his business and personal finances - undermining any defense argument that he was not at the helm of paying bills.
Daniels' testimony, after the time McConney and Tarasoffs spent in court, and Merchan's warning, mark a difficult week for the defense. Before Daniels' testimony resumed after a lunch break, one of Trump's lawyers, Todd Blanche, asked Merchan to dismiss the case because of extraneous details in her comments.
"We are moving to a mistrial based on this morning's testimony," Blanche said. "We don't think there's any way to get that bell tolled."
He noted how Daniels described the feeling of "blacking out" and noted that Trump did not use a condom.
"Aside from sheer embarrassment," Blanche told Merchan, these details did nothing but "inflame the jury."
"I agree there probably would have been a number of things [left] better left unsaid," Merchan said. "In fairness to people, I think your witness was a little difficult to verify," but still details came in that shouldn't have been.
Merchan said, "I don't believe we've gotten to the point" where a mistrial was warranted.
